Magic vs. Bird: The 1979 NCAA Championship Game (TV Movie 1979) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error The 1979 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship game, between Michigan State University and Indiana State University, exactly as aired on NBA on March 26, 1979, except that the ... See full summary » Stars: Title: Magic vs. Bird: The 1979 NCAA Championship Game (TV Movie 1979) 8.9/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Add Image Add an image Do you have any images for this title? Edit Storyline The 1979 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship game, between Michigan State University and Indiana State University, exactly as aired on NBA on March 26, 1979, except that the commercials are deleted.

Although the game, won 75-64 by MSU, was not quite as dramatic as many other NCAA championship games, it is one of the most historically significant games ever played. The game was the first on-the-court meeting between MSU's Earvin "Magic" Johnson and ISU's Larry Bird, two future Hall of Famers who combined to win NBA championships in eight of the next nine years. Johnson and Bird are credited with restoring unselfish and fundamentally sound play to the basketball and lifting it to new heights of popularity. Written by stevenmcatee@aol.com (Indianapolis, Indiana, USA) – See all my reviews The NCAA men's basketball tournament has produced some of the most exciting, powerful and emotional moments in sports history, including some Hollywoodesque fantastic finishes. The 1979 championship game, though far from a blowout, wasn't a down to the wire thriller, but it is one of the most significant games ever played in any sport. The match up between Michigan State Univeristy and Indiana State University was the first time that MSU's Earvin "Magic" Johnson and ISU's Larry Bird played each other.

The two entered the NBA the next season and dominated it throughout the 1980s. Happily, that game is now available on DVD through Greatest Games Ever. The DVD shows the broadcast exactly as it aired live on NBC with commentators Al McGuire, Billy Packer, Bryant Gumbel and Dick Enberg. The commercials are absent but the pre-game, halftime and post-game segments are included. The lack of commercials is a little disappointing because I think commercials are often fascinating in retrospect but that's my only criticism of the DVD. Th game, played on March 26, 1979 at the Special Events Center at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, was an unlikely pairing. Michigan State, from the mighty Big Ten and coached by seasoned veteran Jud Heathcote, was a natural participant. But Indiana State, from the relatively minor Missouri Valley Conference and led by a rookie head coach, Bill Hodges, was a surprise. Especially because the Sycamores had a long history of taking a distant backseat to the Hoosier state's Big Ten schools, Indiana University and Purdue University.

Adding drama was ISU entering the game with a 33-0 record, attempting to join an elite group of undefeated national champions. And on a trivial note, Hodges was the first head coach to reach the championship game with an undefeated career record. And Johnson and Bird were not the only great players on the floor. And least three others, MSU's Jay Vincent and Greg Kelser and ISU's Carl Nicks also went on to play in the NBA. And the pre-game interviews with Bird and Johnson are priceless. Throughout the game, we get a preview of the way that Johnson and Bird would revolutionize the NBA in the next decade. In an era in which basketball was largely becoming a sloppy playground style sport, the two made teamwork and fundamentals popular again. Sadly, since they retried, the sport has regressed to an even worse state than it was at the time of this game. Though in two ways the sport has improved. Watching this game now reminds me how much more exciting the three point shot and the shot clock have made basketball. The only thing that keeps this DVD from getting a 10/10 is that the game isn't particularly dramatic. Many NCAA championship games have had more memorable finishes.

But none have ever given a better preview of the future of basketball. Bird and Johnson each went on to win three NBA Most Valuable Player awards and their teams won eight of the nine NBA championships from 1980-88. Johnson won five with the Los Angeles Lakers and Bird won three with the Boston Celtics. As I finish typing this review, it's just about 45 minutes until the 2006 tournament selection show begins. This time of year always takes me back to the great tournament moments of the past and this game is one of the most special. 9/10. 4 of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes 1979 NCAA Basketball Championship: Magic Johnson of Michigan State defeats Larry Bird of Indiana State | World History Project Mar 26 1979 1979 NCAA Basketball Championship: Magic Johnson of Michigan State defeats Larry Bird of Indiana State Last Monday night, in the championship game, Michigan State confirmed a notion that had been gaining credence as the NCAA tournament progressed and State rolled to one easy win after another.

The Spartans, despite a 21-6 regular-season record, are a superb team—perhaps even a great one—largely because of their perfect mix of superstars in the spotlight and supernumeraries in the shadows. Together, they accomplished what Earvin Johnson and Gregory Kelser could never have done by themselves—indeed, what no team had been able to do this season. The Spartans caged Larry Bird and ended the 33-game winning streak of Indiana State 75-64 to win their first national basketball title. For Bird, the word in Salt Lake City was frustration. He missed shots, he committed turnovers and he failed to find the open man. He also needed what Johnson and Kelser had, a supporting cast of bit players who could come up with the critical basket or rebound. Yes, Johnson scored 24 points and Kelser 19 in the final, but a little left-handed guard named Terry Donnelly popped in 15 points and a substitute center named Ron Charles grabbed seven rebounds. Donnelly played a particularly important role.

His first shot, less than five minutes into the game, gave Michigan State a lead it never relinquished, and his last four, early in the second half, blew the margin to 16. After averaging only 6.3 points during Michigan State's first 31 games, he was hardly accustomed to this sort of performance. "I was surprised," he said. "Earvin was throwing the ball to me the same as everyone else." With that kind of balance and that kind of lead, the Spartans were not about to lose. Indiana State never got closer than six points after Donnelly's burst, and the Sycamores took themselves out of the game when they blew four opportunities to cut the deficit further with the score 61-54. The Spartans made it clear from the beginning that they were the better team, and they proved it in the most convincing fashion possible—by containing Bird. The player of the year shot seven for 21, scored only 19 points, committed six turnovers and passed for only two assists. Michigan State Coach Jud Heathcote designed a variation of the Spartans' matchup zone that put "a man and a half" on Bird.

"He was very, very frustrated," said Spartan Center Jay Vincent. "He kept saying, 'Give me the ball, give me the ball,' but his teammates couldn't get it to him." On those occasions when Bird did get the ball and, in turn, wanted to pass it to someone else, he seldom found anybody open. The Spartans prepared for Bird's usually dazzling passing game the day before by having Johnson work his magic against the other Michigan State regulars in practice. After that, the real Bird was a piece of cake. At the end, Bird and his teammates were left with a 33-1 record, which was about 10 games better than anyone had predicted for them, and a dream that very nearly came true. When the game was over, Sycamore Forward Alex Gilbert walked to the bench and yelled, "Get your head up. Get your head up. We don't want people to think we aren't winners. We're still No. 1!" Not really, of course. That accolade belonged to Michigan State, which had 15 wins in its last 16 games. "We'd been a very, very good team the last month," said Kelser.

"I felt that if we won we could say we are a great team. Well, we are. We play together, and we use the talent that we have. I haven't realized we're champions yet, but I will, and it will hit me like a brick. I'll explode." By reaching the championship game, the finalists brought a semblance of sanity to a freaked-out season. The biggest upset in Saturday's two semifinals was that there were no upsets; the third-ranked Spartans swamped Penn 101-67, and the top-ranked Sycamores edged DePaul 76-74. So much for upstarts and old men. The Quakers had hoped to gain recognition for their Eastern Establishment team, which was making its first appearance in the final four, and for the Ivy League, whose last representative in such distinguished basketball company had been Princeton in 1965. They certainly sounded confident enough, as when star Forward Tony Price declared, "I have no fear of Michigan State. They're just a bunch of dudes who play ball." But, alas, they play it well, and they know it.

"It would be very, very easy for us to get complacent and overconfident," admitted Kelser, "but I don't think we'll do that." Source: Larry Keith Added by: Kevin Rogers The NCAA men's basketball tournament has produced some of the most exciting, powerful and emotional moments in sports history, including some Hollywoodesque fantastic finishes. The 1979 championship game, though far from a blowout, wasn't a down to the wire thriller, but it is one of the most significant games ever played in any sport. The match up between Michigan State Univeristy and Indiana State University was the first time that MSU's Earvin "Magic" Johnson and ISU's Larry Bird played each other. The two entered the NBA the next season and dominated it throughout the 1980s. Happily, that game is now available on DVD through Greatest Games Ever. The DVD shows the broadcast exactly as it aired live on NBC with commentators Al McGuire, Billy Packer, Bryant Gumbel and Dick Enberg. The commercials are absent but the pre-game, halftime and post-game segments are included.

The lack of commercials is a little disappointing because I think commercials are often fascinating in retrospect but that's my only criticism of the DVD. Th game, played on March 26, 1979 at the Special Events Center at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, was an unlikely pairing. Michigan State, from the mighty Big Ten and coached by seasoned veteran Jud Heathcote, was a natural participant. But Indiana State, from the relatively minor Missouri Valley Conference and led by a rookie head coach, Bill Hodges, was a surprise. Especially because the Sycamores had a long history of taking a distant backseat to the Hoosier state's Big Ten schools, Indiana University and Purdue University. Adding drama was ISU entering the game with a 33-0 record, attempting to join an elite group of undefeated national champions. And on a trivial note, Hodges was the first head coach to reach the championship game with an undefeated career record. And Johnson and Bird were not the only great players on the floor. And least three others, MSU's Jay Vincent and Greg Kelser and ISU's Carl Nicks also went on to play in the NBA. And the pre-game interviews with Bird and Johnson are priceless.

Throughout the game, we get a preview of the way that Johnson and Bird would revolutionize the NBA in the next decade. In an era in which basketball was largely becoming a sloppy playground style sport, the two made teamwork and fundamentals popular again. Sadly, since they retried, the sport has regressed to an even worse state than it was at the time of this game. Though in two ways the sport has improved. Watching this game now reminds me how much more exciting the three point shot and the shot clock have made basketball. The only thing that keeps this DVD from getting a 10/10 is that the game isn't particularly dramatic. Many NCAA championship games have had more memorable finishes. But none have ever given a better preview of the future of basketball. Bird and Johnson each went on to win three NBA Most Valuable Player awards and their teams won eight of the nine NBA championships from 1980-88. Johnson won five with the Los Angeles Lakers and Bird won three with the Boston Celtics.

Source: stevenmcatee (stevenmcatee@aol.com) Added by: Kevin Rogers The 1979 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 40 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 9, 1979, and ended with the championship game on March 26 in Salt Lake City, Utah. A total of 40 games were played, including a national third place game. Michigan State, coached by Jud Heathcote, won the national title with a 75-64 victory in the final game over Indiana State, coached by Bill Hodges. Indiana State came into the game without a loss all season, but couldn't win their final game. Magic Johnson of Michigan State was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Michigan State's victory over Indiana State was its first over a number one ranked team, and remained its only victory over a number one ranked team until 2007 (Wisconsin). The final game marked the beginning of the rivalry between future Hall of Famers Johnson and Larry Bird. To this day, it remains the highest-rated game in the history of televised college basketball.

Both Magic and Bird would enter the NBA in the fall of 1979, and the rivalry between them and their teams (respectively, the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics) was a major factor in the league's renaissance in the 1980s and 1990s. The game also led to the "modern era" of college basketball, as it introduced a nationwide audience to a sport that was once relegated to second-class status in the sports world. Source: Wikipedia Added by: Kevin Rogers March Madness was in full swing in 1979 when the Michigan State Spartans locked horns with the undefeated Indiana State Sycamores in the NCAA basketball title game. With MSU’s Earvin “Magic” Johnson and ISU’s Larry Bird as the featured superstars, the 1979 championship game proved to be one of the most heralded in college basketball history. Michigan State and the Magic Johnson Show Big things were expected of Coach Jud Heathcote’s Michigan State Spartans for the 1978-79 basketball season.

Their powerhouse lineup said it all, led by 6′8″ sophomore Earvin “Magic” Johnson at point guard, who dazzled crowds with his lightning-quick passes and pinpoint shooting. Joining the Magic Man in their deadly hardwood assault were 6′7″ senior Greg “Special K” Kelser, 6′7″ sophomore Jay Vincent and 6′4″ sophomore Mike Brkovich at forwards, 6′7″ junior Ron Charles at center and 6′2″ junior Terry Donnelly at the other guard position. The MSU Spartans lived up to their pre-season hype, posting a record of 21-6. One of their most impressive wins came in December in the Far West Classic when they manhandled Washington State, 98-52. Michigan State went on to win a share of the Big Ten title with Purdue and Iowa. By virtue of their overall winning percentage and the fact that they had beaten Iowa twice, however, the Spartans were awarded the automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. Larry Bird’s Cinderella Indiana State In one pre-season poll, Indiana State was picked to finish fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference.

The prediction was not unreasonable, as ISU would field a lineup of unknown quantity led by a man with no previous head coach experience. One player in Coach Bill Hodges’ starting lineup whose talents were definitely known was 6′9″ senior forward Larry Bird. In his two previous seasons at ISU the French Lick native had averaged 32.8 and 30.0 points per game, respectively. With Bird as the unquestioned leader and star of the team, the Sycamores rounded out their starting lineup with 6′3″ junior Carl Nicks and 6′2″ sophomore Steve Reed at the guard positions, 6′7″ junior Alex Gilbert at center and 6′8″ junior Brad Miley at the other forward position. Also figuring prominently as the sixth and seventh men were 6′5″ junior transfer Bob Heaton and 6′4″ senior forward Leroy Staley. Indiana State went on to become one of the greatest cinderella stories in college hoops history, compiling a perfect 29-0 record following a 69-59 win over New Mexico State in the Missouri Valley postseason tournament.

Appropriately, ISU fans had adopted “Amen” as their unofficial theme song for the season. The 1979 Road to Salt Lake City A total of 40 teams comprised the field of the 41st annual NCAA basketball tournament. Garnering the number one regional seeds were Notre Dame in the Mideast (Michigan State was #2), Indiana State in the Midwest, North Carolina in the East and UCLA in the West. Indiana State opened play against Virginia Tech, with Larry Bird and Carl Nicks scoring 22 points each in an 86-69 victory. The Sycamores went on to dispatch Oklahoma (93-72), Arkansas (73-71) and DePaul (76-74), earning a shot in the title game. The DePaul contest was especially hard fought, with Larry Bird the deciding factor, going 16 of 19 from the field, grabbing 16 rebounds and handing out nine assists. “We couldn’t stop him,” said Blue Demons head coach Ray Meyer. Michigan State opened tournament play with a 95-64 blowout of Lamar.

The Spartans then rolled on to impressive wins over Louisiana State (87-71), Notre Dame (80-68) and Penn (101-67). In the latter, it was all Magic Johnson and Greg Kelser, with the two superstars pouring in 29 and 28 points, respectively. 1979 NCAA Basketball Title Game Predictions “IT’LL BE MAGIC MAN VS. THE BIRD,” crowed one newspaper headline, as the Spartans and Sycamores prepared to do battle in the great Salt Lake. The pundits now made their predictions. Both coaches Ray Meyer of DePaul and Bob Weinhauer of Penn favored Michigan State, while Al McGuire, former head coach at Marquette and an NBC sports commentator, gave the nod to Indiana State. “I think it is meant to be,” McGuire said. The 1979 NCAA Championship Basketball Game On Monday night, March 26, 1979, Indiana State and Michigan State met for the NCAA basketball championship in Salt Lake City. The place was buzzing with excitement, as a capacity crowd of 15,410 fans packed the Events Center at the University of Utah.

It was the MSU Spartans who took command early, rolling to a 37-28 advantage at halftime. The numbers told the story, with Michigan State shooting 52 percent from the field and the Sycamores 38 percent. The second half didn’t prove to be much better for Indiana State, as the Spartans defense continued to bottle up Larry Bird while Magic Johnson, Greg Kelser and Terry Donnelly put the necessary tallies on the board. At one point, the Sycamores managed to pull within six, but that’s the closest they got, as Bird could only manage seven of 21 from the field and hand out two assists. When the final buzzer had sounded, the score stood Michigan State 75, Indiana State 64. Magic Johnson, who scored 24 points in the title game, was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. 1979 NCAA Finals - Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson [Ending] - YouTube 1979 NCAA Finals - Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson [Ending] Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content.

The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Jan 31, 2007 Michigan State, coached by Jud Heathcote, won the national title with a 75-64 victory in the final game over Indiana State, coached by Bill Hodges. Magic Johnson of Michigan State was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. The final game marked the beginning of the rivalry between future Hall of Famers Johnson and Larry Bird. To this day, it remains the highest-rated game in the history of televised college basketball. Both Magic and Bird would enter the NBA in the fall of 1979, and the rivalry between them and their teams (respectively, the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics) was a major factor in the league's renaissance in the 1980s and 1990s. The game also led to the "modern era" of college basketball, as it introduced a nationwide audience to a sport that was once relegated to second-class status in the sports world. This was the first tournament in which all teams were seeded by the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee.

The top six seeds in each regional received byes to the second round, while seeds 7-10 played in the first round. Category The 1979 NCAA Championship Showdown Between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson | Bleacher Report The 1979 NCAA Championship Showdown Between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson By C Douglas Baker , Senior Analyst Mar 27, 2011 Use your ← → (arrow) keys to browse more stories 2.0K When March Went Mad: The Game that Transformed Basketball by Seth Davis St. Martins Griffin 2010 ISBN-13: 978-0805091519 Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. These two will go down in the annuals of not just basketball history, but sports history, tied hand in hand. They revitalized the National Basketball Association with their fierce rivalry. But it started in an NCAA Division I college basketball championship game in 1979.

In When March Went Mad, Seth Davis recounts how the irrepressible and talented Ervin Magic Johnson of the Michigan State Spartans squared off against the small school hero Larry Bird of the Indiana State University Sycamores in what will always be a storied NCAA Championship Game. In these pages Davis recounts the early lives of both of these young men, whose personalities and court styles were polar opposites. Bird, an introverted, hard working player who would have been just as happy cutting grass for the local Parks and Recreation Department as he was playing professional basketball, and the larger than life, happy go lucky, Ervin Johnson, with his huge smile and phenomenal basketball skills. Headed toward a collision course, these two would remake the NCAA and it’s now wildly successful tournament. They were such great talents and good stories, they made the NCAA Championship Game must see TV before 24-hour news coverage and the over exposure of college basketball. In fact, outside die hard fans, few knew much of anything about Larry Bird, and not a great deal about Magic Johnson. Today of course we’d know what they ate for breakfast (and maybe even something about their bowel movements) during the tournament.

In 1979, they created hoopla with their talent, as newspaper and magazine articles touted their exploits during the regular season. Davis does an outstanding job of delving into the personality of both of these athletes and their route to that 1979 championship game where Earvin Johnson will forever have one up on Larry Bird. He provides stories behind each player’s team and teammates, how they interacted with the press, their peers, and their coaches, and how each lead their team to the showdown that changed the face of college basketball. Beyond the obvious, detailing the first collision between two of the greatest basketball players of all time, this book has a theme. How this rivalry, which saved even the NBA from the doldrums, revitalized college basketball and made it relevant, and launched the careers of two superstars. Highly recommended. Michael Wilbon - Bird vs. Magic 1979 NCAA Championship Game Launched March Madness Bird vs. Magic 1979 NCAA Championship Game Launched March Madness TOOLBOX Thursday, March 26, 2009 GLENDALE, Ariz. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird did this.

With all due respect to John Wooden and his 10 championships at UCLA, the Bruins dominated what was then merely a basketball tournament. But Magic and Bird, 30 years ago Thursday night, gave us March Madness. The game itself, on the evening of March 26, 1979, wasn't the best championship game ever. Playing for Indiana State, Bird missed 14 of 21 shots and Michigan State was in control for essentially the entire game. Magic's greatest performance had come two days earlier, in the national semifinals, when he ran the University of Pennsylvania off the court with a triple-double. But no basketball game, before or since, college or professional, produced the anticipation, television ratings, impact or reaction of Indiana State-Michigan State, Bird vs. Magic. Most people, in a television audience of about 20 million, had never seen either man play live on TV. Few had seen Bird, who had been on national television only three times all season, even though the Sycamores were undefeated. A great many, having heard stories about Bird's shooting and passing skills, were stunned to turn on the game that night and find that Bird was white.

College basketball, by today's standards, was primitive in 1979. Coaches usually didn't have film of an upcoming opponent and because scouting was outsourced, coaches from out of conference had never seen Bird nor Magic until the teams took the court. It seemed as if everything about college basketball changed that night, and dramatically so. In "When March Went Mad: The Game That Transformed Basketball," a must-read book for any basketball fan, Seth Davis chronicles how the championship game between Bird and Magic kicked off a six-year stretch that took the NCAA tournament from basketball event to calendar-defining cultural festival, every minute of which is televised. In 1979, the NCAA tournament had a 40-team field. It was expanded twice over the next six years, to 48 teams in 1980 and 64 teams in 1985. The rights fees, only $5.2 million in 1979, doubled in 1980, went to $48 million in 1982 (when CBS snatched the tournament from NBC) and doubled to $96 million in 1985.

Now, it's $6 billion over 11 years. On the court, Bird-Magic kicked off an era that in just six years gave us Isiah Thomas, Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon, all of whom played in the NCAA tournament title game. The Big East and ESPN were born. And as Al McGuire is quoted as saying in Davis's book: "The college game was already on the launching pad. Then Bird and Magic came along and pushed the button." And nobody had expected any of it when the 1978-79 season began. Indiana State was a nice little team that simply hoped to win its conference, the Missouri Valley, and make it to the NCAA tournament in Bird's senior season. Magic and Michigan State -- which also featured forward Greg Kelser, a future first-round NBA draft pick -- were talented but seemed just a little less than they should have been in the Big Ten. I can't remember the correct night to put out the garbage these days, but I remember so much of that winter of '79 like it was yesterday. I was a junior at Northwestern University, but worked that winter as an intern at the Lafayette Journal and Courier in Indiana.

Not knowing a soul outside the newsroom became a blessing because parts of Indiana, even then, had cable television. I could (and did) walk to my apartment every night and watch college basketball from somewhere in the region. Ray Meyer's DePaul team, featuring a freshman named Mark Aguirre, was Final Four-bound and always on WGN. Digger Phelps's Notre Dame team had been to the Final Four a season earlier. Purdue and Indiana seemed to be on most nights. Then there was a team from Terre Haute, Ind., featuring Bird that just kept winning, every night. It was unbelievable to follow, like our own little Midwestern secret. Nobody outside Indiana and maybe Illinois knew what conference the Sycamores were in or whom they played or how they got to be undefeated. CONTINUED 1 NBA.com: Magic Johnson Bio Complete Bio | Summary | Complete Stats Few athletes are truly unique, changing the way their sport is played with their singular skills. Earvin "Magic" Johnson was one of them. Just how great a basketball player was Johnson?

So great, perhaps, that future generations of hoop fans may wish they had entered the world years earlier -- just so they could have seen Magic play in person instead of watching him only on highlight reels. Magic's "junior, junior sky-hook" in Game 4 of the 1987 Finals is part of NBA lore. Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images He was what Bob Cousy was to the 1950s, what Oscar Robertson was to the 1960s, what Julius Erving was to the 1970s. Still, Earvin Johnson was even more than a revolutionary player, who, at 6-9, was the tallest point guard in league history. His sublime talent elicited wonder and admiration from even the most casual basketball fan. Whether it was a behind-the-back pass to a streaking James Worthy , a half-court swish at the buzzer or a smile that illuminated an arena, everyone who saw Johnson play took with them an indelible memory of what they had witnessed. From the moment he stepped onto the court, people pondered: How could a man so big do so many things with the ball and with his body? It was Magic.

Johnson accomplished virtually everything a player could dream of during his 13-year NBA career, all of which was spent with the Los Angeles Lakers. He was a member of five championship teams. He won the Most Valuable Player Award and the Finals MVP Award three times each. He was a 12-time All-Star and a nine-time member of the All-NBA First Team. He surpassed Robertson's career assists record, a mark he later relinquished to John Stockton . He won a gold medal with the original Dream Team at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. His all-around play inspired the addition of the term "triple-double" to basketball's lexicon, although history demands that Robertson be recognized as the first man to regularly post double figures in three statistical categories in the same game. Unfortunately for the Big O, nobody had thought of the term triple-double back in the 1960s. Johnson did all of this while maintaining a childlike enthusiasm born of a pure love of sport and competition. Beyond all the money, success and fame, Johnson was just happy to be playing basketball. If there was one aspect of Johnson's game that awed people the most, it was his brilliant passing skills.

He dazzled fans and dumbfounded opponents with no-look passes off the fastbreak, pinpoint alley-oops from halfcourt, spinning feeds and overhand bullets under the basket through triple teams. When defenders expected him to pass, he shot. When they expected him to shoot, he passed. Said former Lakers swingman Michael Cooper: "There have been times when he has thrown passes and I wasn't sure where he was going. Then one of our guys catches the ball and scores, and I run back up the floor convinced that he must've thrown it through somebody." Born on August 14, 1959, Earvin Johnson Jr. grew up in Lansing, Mich., with nine brothers and sisters. His father worked in a General Motors plant; his mother was a school custodian. Young Earvin passed the time by singing on street corners with his buddies and, of course, by playing basketball. "Junior," or "June Bug" as his neighbors called him, was on the court by 7:30 many mornings. "I practiced all day," Johnson told USA Weekend. "I dribbled to the store with my right hand and back with my left.

Then I slept with my basketball." From the moment he stepped onto the court, people pondered: How could a man so big do so many things with the ball and with his body? It was Magic. Johnson was first called "Magic" when he was a star at Everett High School. He was given the nickname by a sports writer who had just seen the 15-year-old prepster notch 36 points, 16 rebounds and 16 assists. (Johnson's mother, a devout Christian, thought the nickname was blasphemous.) As a senior, Johnson led Everett to a 27-1 record and the state title while averaging 28.8 points and 16.8 rebounds. Johnson wanted to attend college close to home, so he enrolled at Michigan State in East Lansing. He put up impressive numbers as a freshman (17.0 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 7.4 apg), leading the Spartans to a 25-5 record and the Big Ten Conference title.

As an All-America sophomore Johnson directed his team to the national title in 1979, beating Larry Bird 's Indiana State squad in perhaps the most anticipated (and most watched) NCAA Championship Game ever played. Having accomplished all he wanted to on the college level, Johnson passed up his final two seasons and entered the 1979 NBA Draft. The Utah Jazz were supposed to draft in the first position, but the Jazz had conveyed their 1979 first-round pick to the Los Angeles Lakers three years earlier as compensation for the free-agent signing of Gail Goodrich . Thus the Lakers took Johnson with the first overall pick. The team had just undergone big changes: a new coach in Jack McKinney, a new owner in Dr. Jerry Buss, and seven new faces on the court. With the country's most exciting college player in a Lakers uniform, Buss hoped the normally reserved Forum crowds would get up off their hands and onto their feet. "Showtime" was born. Fans attending Johnson's first game witnessed the sort of exuberance he would display throughout his entire career.

After a buzzer-beating shot by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to defeat the San Diego Clippers on opening night, Johnson went berserk, distributing bone-jarring high-fives and bear hugs. At this rate, most observers thought, the kid would burn out in no time. Even Abdul-Jabbar had to tell the rookie to cool it, because there were 81 more games yet to play -- and that didn't count playoffs. That season's NBA Rookie of the Year Award went to Bird of the Boston Celtics. But the NBA champion was Los Angeles. The Lakers rolled to the Western Division title with a 60-22 record, the league's second best. (Paul Westhead took over as coach after McKinney was seriously hurt in a bicycle crash 14 games into the season.) In 77 games Johnson's numbers mirrored those of his days at Michigan State (18.0 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 7.3 apg). He became the first rookie to start in an NBA All-Star Game since Elvin Hayes 11 years earlier.

In the 1980 NBA Finals against the Philadelphia 76ers, Johnson's performance in the series-clinching sixth game was the stuff of legend. Abdul-Jabbar was sidelined with a badly sprained ankle sustained during his 40-point effort in Game 5. Up 3-2, the Lakers could wrap things up on the 76ers' home court. Enter Johnson, the 20-year-old rookie. Assuming Abdul-Jabbar's position at center, Johnson sky-hooked and rebounded the Lakers to victory with 42 points, 15 boards, seven assists and three steals. He even jumped for the opening tap. Johnson became the first rookie ever to win the Finals MVP Award. The stunning effort exemplified his uncanny ability to do whatever the Lakers needed in order to win. Magic Johnson was always driving ahead of the competition. Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images In the Los Angeles Times, Westhead said of his amazing rookie: "We all thought he was a movie-star player, but we found out he wears a hard hat.

It's like finding a great orthopedic surgeon who can also operate a bulldozer." The next year was not nearly as kind to Johnson or to the Lakers. In the first month, 7-2 Tom Burleson of the Atlanta Hawks fell on Johnson's left knee, forcing him to miss 45 games with torn cartilage. He came back in time for the Lakers' best-of-3 playoff series against the Houston Rockets. Johnson had made only 2 of his 13 field-goal attempts when he tossed up an airball as time ran out in Game 3. The Lakers lost the game, 89-86, and the series. Johnson and the Lakers rebounded in 1981-82, winning their division and defeating the 76ers in another six-game NBA Finals in which Johnson repeated as MVP. The season also had its share of ugliness. Early on, Westhead wanted to restructure the offense in a way that Johnson believed would have reduced his role. In a widely reported incident, Johnson exploded in the lockerroom after a game in Utah. "I can't play here anymore. I want to leave. I want to be traded," he was quoted as saying.

Reporters waited for the signal that Johnson was joking. It didn't come. Westhead was fired the next day and replaced with assistant coach Pat Riley. At Riley's first home game, fans at the Forum booed Johnson during introductions. In Seattle he was jeered whenever he touched the ball. He paid the price in the All-Star balloting and was not selected as a starter for the only time in his career other than his injury season. It took Johnson's stellar playoff performance to silence the hecklers. On the court, Johnson's play was as splendid as it was consistent. He won his second consecutive steals title that season and for the remainder of his career would never dip below averages of 17.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 10.5 assists. The two years following the Westhead flap were great for Johnson individually but tough for Los Angeles. Johnson won the first two of his four league assists titles and continued to improve upon his already brilliant all-around play. In the 1982-83 NBA Finals against rival Philadelphia, however, Lakers Norm Nixon, Worthy and Bob McAdoo were all hampered by injury. The 76ers swept the series.

By the 1984 NBA Finals, Nixon was gone, Abdul-Jabbar was pushing 40 and Johnson had signed a then record 25-year, $25 million contract. The grueling seven-game series against Boston marked a low point in Johnson's career. His playmaking gaffes at the end of Games 2, 4 and 7 contributed to the Lakers' defeat. With Johnson improving his outside shot and setting assists records, the Lakers won three NBA titles in the next four years. The first of this string came in the 1985 Finals win over their nemesis the Celtics. After being destoyed in Game 1 of the series ,148-114, dubbed the "Memorial Day Massacre" as the game was played on that holiday, the Lakers would rebound to take the series in six games. The decisive victory came on the Garden parquet floor 111-100 and marked the first time the Lakers defeated the Celtics in a Finals after eight previous failures strecthing back to when the Lakers played in Minneapolis.

During the 1986-87 season, with Abdul-Jabbar sidelined briefly with an eye infection, Johnson did something most pro scouts had said he couldn't do: score. He pumped in 38 points against Houston and then a career-high 46 points in the next game against the Sacramento Kings. His 23.9 season average was the highest of his career. That season, Johnson was named NBA Most Valuable Player. It had taken him eight years, in which time Bird had landed three MVP Awards. Johnson had wanted it badly. Before the winner was announced, Johnson told the Los Angeles Times, "Right now, he's 3 and I'm 0. That bugs me a little." (He would eventually tie Bird in the MVP count, claiming the award again in 1989 and 1990.) Johnson won his third Finals MVP Award in 1987, following a six-game victory over Boston. It was also the year that Johnson took Abdul-Jabbar's place as leader of the team. In games of H-O-R-S-E during practice, the 40-year-old center taught his protï¿½gï¿½ how to shoot a sky-hook.

Johnson quickly mastered his own version of the shot, which he used to make the game-winning basket in the Game 4 victory at the Garden, 107-106. That win propelled the Lakers to a second Finals' win over the Celtics in three years. In 1988, the Lakers edged the Detroit Pistons in a bitter seven-game series to become the first team since the 1968-69 Celtics to repeat as champs. The following two seasons Johnson averaged more than 20 points and led the Lakers to two more division titles. In 1988-89, Abdul-Jabbar's final season, Johnson suffered a hamstring injury in the NBA Finals and the Lakers were swept by a well-rounded Pistons team. The next year Los Angeles suffered its earliest departure from the playoffs in nine years, losing to the Phoenix Suns in the Conference Semifinals. Johnson in the 1990-91 campaign helped the Lakers to a 58-24 record. After upsetting a Clyde Drexler -led Portland TrailBlazers team that won the Pacific Division in the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers made another trip to the NBA Finals.

The Lakers lost to the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan in five games, but it was the ninth time Johnson had reached the Finals in his 12 seasons. Before the 1991-92 campaign Johnson stunned the world with the announcement that he had tested positive for the HIV virus and was retiring from the NBA. He made a triumphant appearance at the All-Star Game that season, however, earning the game's MVP Award and leading the West to a 153-113 victory. He also began a campaign to promote AIDS awareness, an effort for which he received the league's J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award. Johnson went on to play for the 1992 U.S. Olympic Dream Team, write a book about safe sex, run several businesses he had started as a player, work for NBC as a television commentator and explore the possibility of purchasing an NBA franchise. With 16 games left to play in the 1993-94 season, he replaced Randy Pfund as the head coach of the Lakers. The team was fighting for a playoff berth when Johnson assumed the reins, and Los Angeles immediately won five straight.

But after the club lost five of its next six outings, Johnson announced that he would not return as coach the following season. "I want to go home," he told theAssociated Press. "It's never been my dream to coach. I want to own, to be a businessman. You've got to chase your dreams." Johnson got his wish in June 1994, when he purchased a share of the Lakers and became a part-owner. In 1995 Johnson got involved in another business venture, opening a chain of movie theaters in minority neighborhoods in the Los Angeles area, an enterprise he later took to other cities.. He also continued to entertain fans around the world when he took his barnstorming basketball team (made up of former college and NBA players) to Asia and Australia. But he wasn't through with the NBA. After sitting out 4 1/2 seasons he made a comeback late in the 1995-96 campaign, playing the final 32 games of the regular season for the Lakers. By then he had bulked up to 255 pounds and did as much of his playing at power forward as he did at guard.

After the Lakers were ousted by Houston in the First Round of the 1996 playoffs, Johnson retired once again. In his 13 NBA seasons Johnson compiled 17,707 points (19.5 ppg), 6,559 rebounds (7.2 rpg) and 10,141 assists (11.2 apg) in addition to 1,724 steals, good for ninth place on the all-time list. He also holds the top marks for most All-Star Game assists (127) and three-point baskets (10). In 1996-97, Johnson was selected to the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team. In 2002, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Was he the best player of his day? Another all-time great thinks so. "Magic is head-and-shoulders above everybody else," Larry Bird once observed in the Chicago Sun-Times. "I've never seen [anybody] as good as him." Magic vs.

Bird: The 1979 NCAA Championship Game (TV Movie 1979) - Plot Summary - IMDb Plot Summary Showing one plot summary The 1979 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship game, between Michigan State University and Indiana State University, exactly as aired on NBA on March 26, 1979, except that the commercials are deleted. Although the game, won 75-64 by MSU, was not quite as dramatic as many other NCAA championship games, it is one of the most historically significant games ever played. The game was the first on-the-court meeting between MSU's Earvin "Magic" Johnson and ISU's Larry Bird, two future Hall of Famers who combined to win NBA championships in eight of the next nine years. Johnson and Bird are credited with restoring unselfish and fundamentally sound play to the basketball and lifting it to new heights of popularity.

Bird-Magic showdown of 1979 was start of something special - USATODAY.com Bird-Magic showdown of 1979 was start of something special Updated Enlarge AP file photo Earvin 'Magic' Johnson and Larry Bird were the stars of the 1979 NCAA championship game, television's highest rated college basketball game. Johnson's Michigan State squad beat Bird and Indiana State to claim the title. COLLEGE HOOPS ESSENTIALS Essentials: Sagarin ratings | Stats, numbers | Team reports Bird and Magic. Magic and Bird. Their names are forever linked largely because of many memorable battles during their days in the NBA. But that rivalry has its roots in college basketball. Thirty years ago this month, Larry Bird of Indiana State and Earvin "Magic" Johnson of Michigan State embarked on a path through the NCAA tournament that would take them to the championship game of the Final Four, a showdown that remains the highest rated televised college basketball game. USA TODAY asked former staffers Malcolm Moran and David DuPree, both of whom covered the event, to share their memories. For Moran, then at The New York Times, this was the first of 26 Final Fours he would cover.

DuPree, then at The Washington Post, subsequently began covering the National Basketball Association, where he observed first hand the Bird-Magic mystique many more times. Tale of two decidedly different stars in 1979 By David DuPree, Special for USA TODAY Magic's smile and Bird's deadpan look. That's what comes to mind when I think of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird just before the 1979 NCAA basketball championship final. I remember Bird having critics question what they were seeing him do as he led Indiana State to a 33-0 record and the nation's top ranking. Even back then, he couldn't care less what people thought. "I'm just a guy," he said the first time I interviewed him. Johnson, on the other hand, with his razzle-dazzle style, had captured America's imagination, in many ways overshadowing Bird. Johnson had been anointed the second coming of Oscar Robertson. Bird, it seemed, was just another great white hope. They looked at their showdown completely differently. Johnson looked at it like the biggest challenge of his basketball life, and he was as excited. Bird presented the air that it just any other game.

He was there to take care of business, simple as that. "This probably means a lot more to my teammates and school than it does to me," Bird said in a story I wrote for the The Washington Post on the eve of the Final. "I thought we should have been here last year. It doesn't matter if we win or lose. I'll still get my money." I came to realize, in the years I would get to know Bird, that he was only half-serious. He was going to get his money, but it mattered a great deal to him. He had that air of confidence. He knew he could do what he had to do and his play spoke for him. The game was really a much-anticipated thing, but no one, at the time, had any idea that it would be a watershed moment for an entire sport. In the pre-ESPN, internet days, most people outside the Big Ten or Indiana had only seen clips of Johnson and Bird. So much about them was simply word of mouth or what you read. The debate of who was better broke down racial lines. My black basketball buddies swore Bird was a fluke, overrated and had no business being compared with Johnson.

Even my white friends would ask me, "Is that goofy looking white dude named Bird really that good?" I did a story on Bird when his team was 21-0. I saw him play for the first time, and I can compare it with what was nearly 25 years later when I went to see LeBron James play in high school. I was stunned by Bird's brilliance. I was sold and sounded like a groupie as I sang his praises. Larry Bird was the man and no matter what you had heard about the competition, about his being slow and looking like a hick, he could play him some basketball. I think it was the anticipation of "is this guy for real and can he lead a Cinderella team to an undefeated season and an NCAA championship" that made this game such an attractive one. His nemesis was the most likeable guy, a big-time player from a big-time school. Bird had fractured his left thumb 3½ weeks earlier against New Mexico State in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. Yet, Bird still managed to dominate throughout the tournament. In the semifinal against DePaul he had 35 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists. The championship game was tense and played close to the vest.

The matchup zone was too much for Indiana State, however, and Bird had a bad shooting night. Magic orchestrated things to perfection and the Spartans won. But the game, in many ways, was anticlimactic, and didn't settle any debates. It just set the stage for many, many more that have continued. I pulled out another clip of an interview with Johnson on the day before the big game. He was as giddy as ever. A dream had come true. "I got to pretend I was Larry Bird," he said of the Spartans' last practice before the game. He said he zinged passes all over the place and dropped in 23-footers at will. "We are a lot alike, you know," Johnson said. "He's just more quiet than I am … Do you think he imitated me in their practice?" Bird's reply: "No." Bird introduces himself amid Michigan State By Malcolm Moran, Special for USA TODAY Somebody alley ooped. Somebody else dunked. And the people in green screamed. There were dozens of Michigan State fans in the University of Utah's Special Events Center to watch practice on the Friday afternoon of one of the last compact Final Fours.

Most of the 15,000 seats were empty. The Spartans just made the place sound like a full house. That first dunk led to another, and another, and another. Not far from the floor, Jack Rohan, who coached Columbia to its most recent NCAA tournament appearance, spotted the University of Pennsylvania team. The Quakers, Michigan State's semifinal opponent the next day, were standing in the tunnel, staring at the dunkathon. "Somebody should get them out of there," Rohan said. "They could be losing this game right now." That is how the weekend began 30 years ago this month, with so much anticipation compressed into such a small space. It was the last Final Four before ESPN. The tournament field, expanded to 40 teams and seeded for the first time, was announced without bracketology or buildup. Future sites, already assigned through 1984, would include domes in New Orleans and Seattle. Expansion had begun. The tournament was emerging from its cult-following era. The ninth-seeded Quakers came out of the East. DePaul had beaten UCLA in the West.

The last time Ray Meyer had led the Blue Demons to the Final Four — 1943 — it wasn't the Final Four yet. Indiana State's first NCAA appearance, marked by its remarkable narrow escapes, extended an undefeated season led by a reluctant star. A relentless series of questions about his circuitous route to the Sycamores, a family tragedy and his temporary work on a garbage truck had driven Larry Bird into an extended public silence. Interview requests were politely declined. Profiles were written without him, or not written at all. AP file photo Earvin 'Magic' Johnson and the Michigan State Spartans celebrated the 1979 national title after taking down Larry Bird and undfeated Indiana State. And there was the player identified as "Earvin (Magic) Johnson," the Michigan State sophomore who commanded the stage as intensely as Bird avoided it. It's too easy to forget how young they looked, how thin their faces were. Few of their games had been televised nationally. Many of us had never heard their voices. For all their differences, there was this link that fed the anticipation. They played for midwestern schools not far from home, and they made the pass fashionable.

On Saturday, when Michigan State humbled Penn and Indiana State escaped DePaul, the championship game had a matchup that did not require hype. Johnson made everyone laugh at the Sunday press conference when he was asked how he was able to make eye contact with teammate Greg Kelser on the court. He turned, grabbed Kelser's face with both hands, and pressed their foreheads together. Something else happened that Sunday. Bird was asked about the condition of his broken left thumb. "Broke," he said, and there was loud laughter. At last we had heard his voice, and discovered a dry sense of humor. Which made his tears that much more poignant Monday night. Michigan State's zone created an outcome that could not live up to the anticipation. With 18:01 to play and the Spartans up 14, the fans in green first shouted, "We're Number One." Johnson glowed as he helped cut the nets following the 75-64 victory. Bird wept into a towel. He showered, dressed, took a blue equipment bag into the trainer's room, and stayed there 38 minutes. Finally, Mel Daniels, an assistant coach, pleaded with a small group of reporters.

"He's a sensitive guy," Daniels said. "It would be better coming from him. It's gonna take time to make that transition. I'm sure when it comes, he'll accept you guys. Give him a fair shake." We did, and he did. We knew Earvin Johnson. Late that Monday night, we began to know Larry Bird. *** The first real March Madness was Magic vs. Bird in 1979 - NY Daily News The first real March Madness was Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird in 1979 The first real March Madness was Magic vs. Bird in 1979 NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Earvin 'Magic' Johnson (l.) of Michigan State and Larry Bird of Indiana State during a news conference in Salt Lake city ahead of the 1979 NCAA national championship game. (Jerome McLendon/AP) Thursday, March 26, 2015, 10:08 AM (Originally published by the Daily News on Thursday, March 28, 1996; written by Mike Lupica) Before they went off together to jump-start the NBA, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird did the exact same thing for college basketball.

There was an NCAA Tournament before Magic and Bird came together for one unforgettable March. There was a Final Four. Just not the tournament we have now. Not the same Final Four. The first real March Madness was Magic against Bird in 1979. Finally there came the Monday night when the country went to a college basketball game. Michigan State vs. Indiana State felt like a heavyweight championship fight. Magic was black, Bird was white; Magic was a talker, Bird was stoic; Magic had the better team, Bird had the bigger reputation. We wanted to know how it all came out. What happens this weekend in the Meadowlands did not start with John Wooden or Kareem or Bill Walton or even David Thompson and North Carolina State knocking off Walton's UCLA team that one time. It started with Magic and Bird. The country went to the tournament that night 17 years ago in Salt Lake City and the sport would never be the same. Magic and Bird gave the Final Four glamour, and for the first time, they gave it size. But we needed something more.

We got it in 1983 and 1985, when a couple of unlikely underdog teams from North Carolina State and Villanova finally showed us the possibilities of the end of March, the beginning of April in college basketball. They showed us that the real romance of the whole thing is more than stars. The real romance of college basketball, and sports, is a team coming out of nowhere and shocking the world. Some coach, some group of players we did not even know on the first of March. Before there was the movie "Hoosiers," there was N.C. State upsetting Houston, Villanova taking out Georgetown. In the game that changed how we watch the NCAA Tournament, Magic Johnson of Michigan State cuts down the net after defeating Indiana State, 75-64, to win the championship. (AP) Everybody seems worried Kentucky and UMass are the two best teams and that the real title game will be played at 8 o'clock Saturday night. The people who say that know nothing about the event. It is a fact that neither Mississippi State nor Syracuse could ever be the kind of Cinderella team N.C. State was, that Villanova was against Georgetown in Rupp Arena in 1985.

But they will do. One of them will be in the final. One of them has the chance to be an underdog that will be remembered. I will be happy to watch Kentucky vs. UMass on Saturday night. Then just as happy to watch the final. This Monday night at the Meadowlands will at least have the sort of possibilities that the last Monday night of college basketball is supposed to have. If Kentucky wins Saturday, it will come into the game as the clear No. 1. Same with UMass if it wins Saturday. And then Richard Williams, the Mississippi State coach, or Jim Boeheim, the Syracuse coach, can say what Rollie Massimino said to his Villanova players before their game against Georgetown in '85: "For one night, you can beat the best team in the world." Nobody knew Mississippi State before the first of March, even if Williams' team had beaten Kentucky. No one expected Syracuse to get near this particular Final Four. Here they are, anyway. Indiana State's Larry Bird gives a helping hand to a fallen Magic Johnson during 1979 title game. (AP) We will have one kind of college basketball fight Saturday, and another Monday.

And between Saturday and Monday, one coach will start to hear that his team really doesn't have much of a chance. And then it will be Albuquerque in 1983 and the late Jim Valvano, the late great Jimmy V, walking out of a conference room at the media hotel after doing an interview with CBS, already starting to cough and lose his voice, looking around for his sports information director, and their courtesy car. Houston had beaten Louisville in an extraordinary game the day before, one played above the basket all day, a game that inspired the old Notre Dame sports information director Roger Valdiserri, to pass this note along press row: "Welcome to the 21st Century." Hardly anybody paid any attention when Valvano's team beat Georgia in the other semifinal. Now here was Valvano telling me, "They keep telling me I got not chance. But if I don't, why in the hell did I bring a second suit?" He grinned a wise-guy grin, and he could have been slouching under the "L" back in Corona, Queens, where he grew up. "I mean, does Kentucky have a chance? UCLA? Notre Dame?

They're all home and there's two teams left and I'm one of them. My math says I gotta have a chance." He had more than a chance Monday night, and finally Dereck Whittenburg threw up that long air ball and Lorenzo Charles of Brooklyn caught it and dropped it in the basket and Jimmy V's kids were champions. And a couple of years later Rollie Massimino's kids, led by Ed Pinckney, shot nearly 70% and beat Georgetown. March Madness was built by two of the greatest stars of all: Magic, Bird. But it grew because of dreams, and longshots. We don't get them all the time. We keep looking, though. We just want a shot. We get a shot this time, however Saturday plays out. One way or another, we get the best kind of Monday night. It is always the Monday we never saw coming. Tags: On This Day: Magic Johnson Beats Larry Bird in NCAA Title Game Magic Johnson and Larry Bird pictured at a press conference, March 25, 1979.

On This Day: Magic Johnson Beats Larry Bird in NCAA Title Game March 26, 2011 06:00 AM by Denis Cummings On March 26, 1979, Magic Johnson led Michigan State past Larry Bird and Indiana State in the NCAA title game. The game, watched by nearly a quarter of U.S. television viewers, is credited with sparking an interest in the NCAA tournament that led to the development of “March Madness.” Magic’s Spartans Beat Bird’s Sycamores 75-64 The 1979 NCAA basketball championship game brought together two teams and two players representing opposite ends of the spectrum in American society, a storyline that sparked great interest among sports fans and non-sports fans alike . The Michigan State Spartans of the powerful Big Ten conference were led by Earvin “Magic” Johnson, a flashy, gregarious point guard who represented black and urban America. On the other side, the unheralded Indiana State Sycamores had gone 33-0 on the back of Larry Bird, the reclusive “hick from French Lick” who represented white and small town America.

“You couldn’t have asked for a better dynamic between these two central characters ,” said Sports Illustrated writer and CBS analyst Seth Davis to NPR. “On the one hand, they were extremely similar—they were ultimate winners; they were great team players—and yet by the same token, you couldn’t find two guys who were so different on so many fundamental levels, the most obvious being race.” Johnson was already billed as the game’s next great star , while Bird, having played just three games on TV and avoiding the media spotlight, was almost a mythical figure. Fans who heard of his exploits tuned in to the title game to see if the “great white hope” was as good as advertised. On Monday night, March 26, nearly a quarter of U.S. television sets were tuned to NBC to watch the two teams play in Salt Lake City’s Special Events Center; the 24.1 rating remains the highest ever rating for a basketball game. “The game, in many ways, was anticlimactic,” says sportswriter David DuPree. Bird, playing with a broken thumb, was held in check by Michigan State’s match-up zone, while “Magic orchestrated things to perfection,” in the Spartans’ 75-64 victory.

Biographies: Magic Johnson and Larry Bird Magic Johnson Earvin Johnson Jr. grew up playing basketball in Lansing, Mich ., where he earned the nickname “Magic” for his “uncanny ability to see plays before they developed.” At 6-foot-9 inches tall, he had the size of a forward, but the quickness of a guard. After leading Michigan State to the 1979 title, he was drafted first overall by the Los Angeles Lakers, where he played his entire career, winning three MVPs and five NBA championships. His career was cut short after he learned in 1991 that he had contracted HIV . Despite his illnesses, he made several comebacks to basketball and played alongside Bird on the 1992 Olympic “Dream Team.” He has remained in good health and become a successful entrepreneur, building theatres, coffee shops, gyms and restaurants in inner cities. Larry Bird Larry Bird was raised in French Lick, Ind., a small town of about 2,000 people.

In high school, Bird showed that he was a great shooter and competitor , earning a basketball scholarship from Indiana University; however, feeling homesick and intimidated by the size of the school, he dropped out and returned to French Lick. After a year of working for the town—in a job that included driving a garbage truck—Bird enrolled at Indiana State, where he developed into one of the best players in college basketball. The Boston Celtics drafted him in 1978, but Bird returned for his senior year and led to Sycamores to the championship game. Bird signed with the Celtics, beginning a 13-year career during which he won three MVPs and three NBA titles. “Bird was one of those rare athletes who made everybody around him better,” writes ESPN’s Larry Schwartz. “His uncanny passing, deadly shooting and anticipation defensively transformed losers into winners.”

Question: With which university did Magic Johnson win the 1979 NCAA title?
Answer: Michigan State